I love this show. I was given a cassette tape of part of the show by Jerry Moore back in the 70's and wore out the tape from playing so much. My all-time favorite version of the whole That's It For The Other One suite - the Cryptical at the end is like none other I ever heard. Sounds as good today as when I first heard it.

OK, I'll say it - Garcia's guitar cuts out for around two minutes at the beginning of the instrumental break in Viola Lee Blues. That must be TC filling in on organ, and I wonder if he might be on the Vox Continental. But what do I know?

The Other One and King Bee are pretty decent.

Though rough in spots and not the most pristine or balanced of recordings, this show is a superlative classic.

Don't know what's up with Styrofoam Cueball. Sounds to me like he was listening to the show "through a horse's feed bag."

Bobby's vocals seem right on cue with Pig on "Lovelight" - does an equally fine job on "Cold Rain and Snow" and "Other One."

The only thing I agree with him on is that it's a five star show.

Being from SF back in those days, I have fond memories of the Avalon and Fillmore!

May have been the round up days at Sutter and Van Ness because of the incident at the end of "Viola Lee" but it also had to do with the neighborhood not liking a bunch of hippies always hanging around. Family Dog moved to the Great Highway I believe at the end of '69 or something like that.

Also agree with the review about "Death Don't Have No Mercy" - Right On!

Pig is great as well!

i wouldn't call it the mother of all versions - for that, check out 4/21/69 a few weeks later, its better and much more tightly played - but what this version lacks in dexterity it makes up for in straight FIRE raging jam power. nice stuff.

Yeah kinda creepy and eerie at points with mediocre sound quality, but a solid early Dead show.

This is an awesome show...but what's up with Bobby's vocals? This show explains to me why he got so few lead vocals during the Aoxomoxoa-Workingman's era...he sounds like he's singing through a horse's feed bag. Very horsey indeed....but the music is awesome and Jerry and Pig are in fine voice, so 5 stars.

BUT it's actually the third night of a 3 night stand at the Avalon in san fransisco in 1969!

excellent 3 night run.

As one reviewer noted a manic energy pervades this performance. Check out TOO.

Yeah, the guy moaning "I don't want to die" over and over is pure giddy terror that only the Dead can pull off. This HAS to be the definitive "Death" man.

The recording is certainly a little rough...but as they say This IS a diamond in such. 4.5 stars (Bobby vocals) for performance, 3 for quality.

Absolutley a haunting Death don't have no mercy complete with the tripped out dude wailing in the backround " I don't want to die ". I love it. Fantastic Viola Lee Blues with the power outage at the end. This was one of the first tapes I had back in the late 80's , and is still a favorite. Download immeadiatly !

This show has the mother of all Viola Lee Blues on it, and has been fodder for many a great party in our earlier years. King Bee is really trippy. A must have, and thank you for posting.

There's some really sweet and hot organ playing on "Viola Lee Blues." Could that really be Pig Pen?

The night before is unquestionably a better recording, but not a better performance in my opinion. This recording has its share of high-frequency distortion, but it's fairly sharp otherwise--a B- overall. The performance has a manic intensity to it that makes it one of my favorites. Baby Blue, The Other One, and Death Don't Have No Mercy are all on a high level, and together make up a marvelous symphony of death. Sweet Viola Lee Blues is wild, with a priceless a capella ending after the power is cut off.

This may not be the complete 1st set. Not a bad show, the night before is better.